When we see records being broken and unprecedented events such as this, the onus is on those who deny any connection to climate change to prove their case. Global warming has fundamentally altered the background conditions that give rise to all weather. In the strictest sense, all weather is now connected to climate change. Kevin Trenberth

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Friday, December 17, 2010

Steve Scolnik: Arctic Air Attack Registers Records: Precipitation, Not Temperature, the Real Story

Arctic Air Attack Registers Records: Precipitation, Not Temperature, the Real Story

by Steve Scolnik, Capital Climate, December 14, 2010

It was noted here recently that heat records have far exceeded cold records in the U.S. for the last 9 consecutive months. Nevertheless, the recent outbreak of Arctic air as far south as the Gulf Coast and Florida has inspired the Ice Agers toTwitch far and wide, "Hundreds of new cold and snow records set in the USA." The heavy snowfall in Minneapolis even led to the collapse of the inflatable roof of theMetrodom [sic].

Is the oft-proclaimed, but never observed, New Ice Age upon us? Well, not quite yet. With the month of December almost half over, the new daily low temperature records have exceeded the new daily highs by a margin of 378 to 191. For the year to date, however, the heat records still exceed the cold records by 7068. At the current rate, the cumulative cold records will catch up to the hot ones in about 491 days, or a little over 16 months.

As usual, focusing on the short term obscures the true picture. Leaving aside the fact that the area of the entire U.S. is less than 2% of the area of the Earth, the latest available December month-to-date average temperature (through the 12th) shows that more of the country is near to above normal than below. Furthermore, the areas with the heaviest snow are not particularly cold.

As was the case with the Mid Atlantic blizzards of last winter, the story here is not temperature, but rather precipitation. The number of daily precipitation records so far in December is 1036, nearly 3 times the number of cold records. On December 1 alone, for example, 334 precipitation records were set, nearly as many as the cold records for the entire month to date. On Sunday, the 12th, the day of the Metrodome collapse, 192 precipitation records were set, vs. only one temperature record. That's right, Jamestown Muni Airport in North Dakota (KJMS) recorded a low of -20 °F, surpassing its previous record of -16 °F set in 1960. Meanwhile, 13 stations in Minnesota alone were setting daily precipitation records, 5 of them with histories of over 110 years.